The Point

Last updated: 27 June 2022.

Syriza and Scotland: can there be a radical coalition of the left here?

 

Scottish Socialist Party national spokesman Colin Fox was in Athens for the Greek General Election. He reflects here on Syriza's victory, its subsequent climb-down in its debt negotiations with the Troika, and assesses the prospect of a Scottish 'Coalition of the Radical Left' contesting next year's Holyrood elections.

 

What struck me above all in Athens amid the euphoria surrounding the election of Europe's first radical left-wing Government since the 1930's was how far we in Scotland are from such an achievement. The same socialist movement that inspired Syriza's formation back in 2004 with our cohesion and strength of purpose is today fragmented, weak and outmanoeuvred by a resurgent SNP.

Marxists, anti-capitalists and radical environmentalists in Greece work together inside a 19 partner 'Coalition of the Radical Left' and on January 25th they secured mass popular support for a bold socialist programme. Here in Scotland there is no such anti-capitalist coalition and yet another neo-liberal party is sweeping all before it.

Greece proves that in the right circumstances with the right approach the radical left can win elections. Syriza triumphed because Greek capitalism is weak and rotten to the core.

The ruling classes borrowed 319BN Euros to bail out their banks and now cannot repay it. The economy has shrunk by 25% in five years. Greece is in a prolonged economic and social depression akin to the USA after the 1929 crash. Unemployment stands at 27% with the youth rate above 60%. One million people [out of a total population of 11million] have left the country and have been replaced by refugees from Syria, Iraq and Africa. Rough sleepers and beggars are everywhere in Athens. The majority of Greeks, ground down by 7 years of plunging living standards and insults to their dignity, had exhausted every other political option open to them. They turned to the 'Coalition of the Radical Left' because it posed an alternative to neo-liberal austerity and to further humiliation they could believe in.

Syriza's climb-down

But politics is a serious business where difficult decisions must often be made under enormous pressure.

It's a month since Syriza celebrated its famous victory but it must seem like a lifetime to Alexis Tsipras and his Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. In signing the agreement with the Troika they have effectively rescinded their commitment to the Greek people. Their enforced u-turn was painful to watch. Much of the shine has been taken off their glittering prize.

Syriza's 7-point election manifesto, or 'Thessaloniki Declaration', pledged to: -

1 Renegotiate the terms of Greek debts with a promise to get 50% of it written off
2 Secure improved repayment terms for the remainder of their 319BN Euro debt
3 Return the state pension to 700 Euro's a month addressing Greece's 'humanitarian crisis'
4 Return the National Minimum Wage to its 2008 level of 750Euro's per month and restore collective bargaining rights for Greek trade unions to improve their industrial strength
5 Restore electricity to all those disconnected through poverty since 2008
6 Organise a pan-European debt conference where all severely indebted nations can come together and present a united position on debt write off to their creditors
7 Call for solidarity action from all across Europe in support of the Greek people

Yet the deal they agreed with the Euro-zone Finance Ministers on February 22nd achieves none of those objectives. It rules out the first two entirely. The best that can be said about it is that it buys Syriza a little time. Four months to be exact. They faced [and still face] an imminent collapse of the Greek banks. That outcome at least has been averted, if only for 4 weeks. They also secured the 3.2BN Euro loan Greece was promised under the existing 'Memorandum of Understanding' [an agreement Syriza openly despises], which allows it to pay its most urgent bills.

The deal is a poor one and yet there was little alternative open to Syriza given the fragility of the Greek economy, the imminent collapse of the banks and the huge power imbalance they faced in the negotiations. None of the other debtor nations – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, or Spain - supported them in their negotiating positions.

Tsipras and Varoufakis are pinning their hopes on growing the Greek economy and phasing in minor improvements in pensions paid for out of increased Government revenues secured by clamping down on tax evasion by the wealthy.

Nonetheless the deal means Syriza must give up thoughts of a debt write off or of introducing significant improvements in pensions or the national minimum wage any time soon. They must also abide by all agreements signed by previous Greek Governments. This means the privatisation of state assets such as the electricity industry and their regional airports cannot be rescinded. And their hands appear to be tied over plans to sell off the lucrative Port of Piraeus to a Chinese or Danish consortium. The headline in the English language Greek Daily newspaper Kathamerni summed up the deal from a Greek perspective by announcing 'Germany gives an inch Greece gives ten miles'.

For the moment Syriza has not paid much of a political price at home for its climb-down. Its popularity actually increased because it was at least seen to stand up to the Troika and restore Greek pride. This is something neither PASOK nor New Democracy – the two previous administrations - accomplished. But such ephemeral popularity does not 'put any souvlaki on the table' in poor Greek households and it will not last.

The strains within the Syriza coalition [representing 19 different groups from Euro-Communist to Greens] on the other hand are intense. The elation of January 25th has given way to bitter disappointment. For all Alexis Tsipras tries to spin the agreement positively claiming 'We [Syriza] won the first battle but the war continues' the mood of the rank and file was summed up rather better by the 86 year old former resistance leader and now a Syriza MEP Manolis Glezos who, after reading the terms of the deal, said on TV 'In renaming the Troika 'Institutions', turning the Memorandum of Understanding into 'the Agreement' and creditors into 'partners' you do not change the previous situation as is the case in renaming meat as fish. On my part I apologize to the Greek people if I have contributed to this illusion.'

You only have to listen to the criticism levelled at Varoufakis and Tsipras by their own MP's to recognise the widespread unhappiness there is with this deal within the Coalition. The Greek Communist Party [KKE], which also has a mass base in Greece, particularly among the unions was even more scathing. Describing Syriza as 'left wing capitalists' - it is not, as you might guess, part of the Coalition – they condemned the deal as a betrayal of Greek workers.

Some commentators have accused Syriza of naiveté. Others of presenting a false prospectus full of promises it was clearly incapable of delivering. Such accusations may of course be valid but critics must be careful what they wish for. For if the Syriza Government falls, and most Greek Governments do not complete their 4-year terms, the far right party 'Golden Dawn' may be the biggest beneficiaries. They were third in January's election. And given the widespread disgust with the so called 'mainstream' parties PASOK and New Democracy it is not likely to be the left that gains from any Syriza collapse.

And those dogmatists who abide by the hackneyed formula that demands the 'mobilisation of the Greek working class to take over the commanding heights of the economy' might reflect on the weakness of that movement in Greece today and the lack of any 'commanding heights'. Only 60% of the electorate turned out to vote and most didn't choose Syriza. The 27 General Strikes that have taken place since 2013 are signs of the weakness of the labour and trades union movement not its strength.

Leaving the Euro

Leaving the Euro is not something Syriza will entertain. It believes this avenue offers no better alternative and that Greece cannot cope with the economic and social 'heart attack' that would immediately follow such a course of action. Leaving the Euro is presented simplistically by most of its advocates as a way for Greece to rescind its enormous debts. That is a highly dubious scenario because if they did walk away from their 319BN Euro debt their banks would collapse and the question immediately arises where are they going to get the necessary credit to import the food and energy they rely on? Or the oil to power their ferries? Or the investment needed to improve its ailing tourist infrastructure? Greek society is close to collapse as it is. The economic, social and political ramifications of a 'Grexit' would be fatal for Greek society. The political crisis would rush throughout Europe like a contagion. It is for these reasons Greeks have overwhelmingly rejected leaving the Euro-zone.

None of which should by contrast suggest their present choices offer them a 'bed of roses' either. All the options Syriza faces are bad but leaving the Euro is considered the worst.

So what happens now? Syriza will try to grow the Greek economy as best it can, to increase State revenues and crack down on tax evasion. But it has now committed itself to meeting all its debt obligations in full and to make what limited improvements in living standards its revenues allow. In other words it will work within the tight financial and economic straightjacket imposed upon it while desperately trying to win concessions from its creditors. Whether this strategy holds remains to be seen. It will come under increasing political pressure in the next few weeks not least from within its own disappointed ranks as it implements economic and social conditions it has previously condemned. Politics is, as I said, a serious business where difficult decisions made under enormous pressure have consequences.

Lessons

So what lessons are there for the Scottish Left from Syriza's victory? First, that the economic, social and political situation in Greece today is very different to Scotland. Second, that the Left in Scotland are a million miles away from forming a radical left-wing Government any time soon. Third, that Syriza was a project that took 10 years to build. Fourth that the class struggle in Scotland today is at a low ebb. Illusions in capitalism are widespread. Strikes are uncommon and the predominant mood among many workers is the fear of losing poor jobs often on zero hour contracts.

Consequently a number of 'leftists' have run off and joined the SNP. They would rather kid themselves that Nicola Sturgeon is a socialist and that the SNP is a workers party than buckle down and build the genuine left-wing mass party Scotland so badly needs!

So where does that leave us? The Scottish Socialist Party will continue to offer a vital alternative to the neo-liberalism of New Labour and the SNP. We are standing candidates in the General Election in order to tap into the unprecedented rejection of the Labour Party in Scotland and to offer a socialist alternative to the all-conquering nationalists. We are under no illusions about the difficulties inherent in this approach but we are confident we can continue to build the party as a result of engaging in the election.

Scottish electoral alliance

We will also consider a request to participate in an electoral alliance for next years Holyrood elections at our conference in Edinburgh in May. We know from experience such joint work only succeeds if it is based on a clear programme, employs mutually agreed tactics and works with honesty and respect.

Our participation in any alliance will, of course. come with conditions. We would want it to support Independence, anti-capitalism, anti-austerity, anti-racism and equality. We would also want it to support a radical redistribution of wealth, an orientation to the working class, measures designed to enhance workers rights and incomes, oppose war and nuclear weapons, give a commitment to workers wages for its MSPs and support a modern, democratic republic.

The SSP's participation in any electoral alliance would also be dependent on democratic accountability of any elected MSPs.

As the biggest force on the left we would expect full representation in the alliance reflecting our strength, and guaranteeing our right to function freely and openly as a campaigning party with our own well established programme and party structures.

We take a principled and pragmatic view of broader Left alliances. We were approached for example by sections of the Scottish Green Party leadership ahead of the 2014 European elections about forming a Red/Green Alliance for that contest and we agreed. Unfortunately the Greens backed out which was disappointing for progressive advance not least because neither they nor the SNP were able to stop UKIP winning Scotland's last European seat.

Any Scottish 'Coalition of the Radical Left' or electoral alliance clearly cannot succeed without the SSP. We remain the country's most successful socialist party and its biggest force on the left with 30 branches committed to building a mass base for socialism. Our invaluable experience in the working class movement in Scotland goes back decades to the Miners strike of 1984/5 and beyond. Our activists were involved in both 'Yes Scotland' and the Radical Independence Campaign at national level. In Jim Bollan we have Scotland's only Socialist Councillor. And we publish Scotland's only socialist newspaper.

We are confident we will continue to grow whether we stand as the SSP in next years Holyrood elections or as part of a wider coalition. We look forward to the deliberations that unfold at our conference in May without prejudice. In the meantime we are focused on the 2015 General Election and again carrying the left's torch in Scotland.